Some
time ago we published the
review by Troll on Axenstar first album. Well, it wasn't the most
flattering review that we ever wrote, but you should know beforehand our
old friend Troll. First of all, he doesn't like power metal, he prefers
brutal extreme metal, just give him "Keeper Of The Seven Keys" or "Heading
For Tomorrow" - he'll blow them up, though he'll recognize them… and blow
up in his reviews nevertheless! Second, though he speaks cruel words,
but he is professional reviewer and reviewer impartial. So it's not bad
to listen to his opinion. And third, it's pretty good review from our
old grumbler Troll for a debut work! But time passes by quickly and the
second Axenstar album is ready. So new questions are ready as well and
Thomas Eriksson (guitar) kindly answered them.

MetalKings.com:
Why did you change the name of the band? POWERAGE suited really well for
the style of the band.

Axenstar:
Well, that's true. But we found out that there were other bands that already
used that name. At least one band in Germany and one in the US. So we
decided that since we hadn't recorded an album yet and were pretty unheard
of, the best thing we could do was simply to change our name. Both to
minimize the risk of being mistaken for one of the other bands and to
avoid any possible legal problems. So we changed the band's name to Axenstar.

MetalKings.com: Can you tell us the meaning for
AXENSTAR?

Axenstar:
It actually has no meaning at all. It's just a made up word. You know,
these days it's hard to come up with a name that means something, sounds
cool and isn't already taken by another band. So we decided to make one
up ourselves. It was our guitarist Peter who came up with the name, and
we all thought it sounded cool and it's obviously original. So we decided
to go for it.

MetalKings.com:
Why you, Tomas, were not in the band from the very beginning? Did you
have your own project?

Axenstar:
No, I wasn't just in the mood to play in any band at that time. I had
been part of many bands prior to joining Axenstar, but at that time I
was kind of fed up with the whole band thing. Something worth mentioning
is that I had never played in a power metal band before, I had only played
thrash metal. So when my brother Magnus had been in the band for a while
he asked me if I wanted to join them. I was reluctant at first, but finally
decided to give it a try. And need I say that I really liked it? I got
back my inspiration and motivation to play in a band again, and here we
are today…

MetalKings.com:
Now you are the main composer in the band. So do you feel that there are
many differences in the sound before your appearance in the band and nowadays?

Axenstar:
Actually, I kind of joined the band pretty fast so the band hadn't written
that many songs without me. But the songs that they had written were typical
power/heavy metal songs so it wasn't that much of a difference. Although
our style has changed a bit from when we first started. From more heavy
metal to more power metal. But that change happened during a longer period
of time after I had joined the band and the line-up was as it is today.

MetalKings.com:
Why you didn't include the song "Seventh Labyrinth" into the first album?

Axenstar:
As I said, the style has changed a bit during these few years that we
have played together. And that song sounded a little bit more like our
old style, so we didn't feel that it would fit in on the album. And also
it was an old song so we were pretty bored with it when the time came
to choose songs for "Perpetual Twilight".

MetalKings.com:
The artwork of the first release, "Perpetual Twilight" doesn't have some
standard picture that are typical for epic power metal releases. Why you
didn't place there mighty riders, flying dragons and wise old men?

Axenstar:
We are kind of fed up with that image for power metal bands. It seems
that if you play power metal you must have dragons, knights, swords and
all kinds of fantasy stuff on the covers. But we think that it is really
boring. Too many bands have done it, so we didn't want any fantasy stuff
at all on our cover. Instead we have a cover that is not so typical for
power metal bands, and I must say that we have gotten great reactions
about it. Just because it isn't so typical.

MetalKings.com:
Is there any concept that unit both albums?

Axenstar:
No, no concept at all. Just great songs. Ha ha.

MetalKings.com:
How did you succeed to sign a contract with Arise Records and do the mastering
at Finnvox Studio, as you are a young band?

Axenstar:
I honestly don't know really. It all happened pretty fast I guess. After
we had recorded our second demo, "Promo 2001", we started to send it out
to different record labels all over the world, and Arise Records was one
of them. Just a couple of days later we got an answer from them that they
wanted to sign a contract with us. We got some offers from other record
labels as well, but the deal with Arise was by far the best deal. As for
the mastering in Finnvox as well as the artwork that is made by the well-known
Travis Smith, we are just thankful that Arise made it possible for us
to get them. I think that they simply believe in us so much that they
are willing to take some chances in order to promote us. And we couldn't
be more grateful.

MetalKings.com:
I have a lot of releases of Swedish power metal bands: DragonLand, StoryTeller,
Supreme Majesty, Nostradameus, etc. How can I distinguish one from another,
what's your major distinction and advantage?

Axenstar:
As I said earlier, we don't have the typical power metal image with dragons
and all that. And if you read the lyrics you won't find any fantasy themes
there either. Maybe one or possibly two, but not more. So that is one
major distinction. Other than that, we just try to write as good and catchy
songs as we possibly can do in order to stand out from the rest of the
bands. But it is hard these days with so many bands around to be recognized
and not just blend in with all the others. But we work hard to do it and
we'll try even harder in the future.

MetalKings.com:
Where is this unusual title "Children Forlorn" taken from? And what's
the story behind?

Axenstar:
The lyrics deal with the issue about children that are forlorn, that is
they are abandoned and forgotten. I didn't have any special children in
mind when I wrote the lyrics, but in this world that we live in there
are a lot of bad things happening and I think a lot of children are directly
affected by it. So you can relate the lyrics to all children that evil
things happen to, whether it's from war, starvation, abuse etc.

MetalKings.com:
The song "Blackout" reminds me of Sonata Arctica songs. How do you think,
is there any difference between Swedish and Finnish power metal?

Axenstar:
Hard to say. Generally I don't think it's that much of a difference as
it isn't that much of a difference between power metal bands from any
countries. I mean, it's still the same genre. But if we should really
narrow it down I think that Finnish bands use a lot more keyboards than
the Swedish bands do. The Swedish bands have more guitar based metal I
would think. But that's just my opinion. Other than that I don't see a
huge difference between us. As for myself I'm a big fan of Finnish metal
bands, and have many of them as a source of inspiration, so I think it's
natural that "Blackout" reminds you of Sonata Arctica. We've been compared
to them before. Also, I really like when there's a lot of keyboards in
the music and have tried to write songs with a lot of keyboards in them.
I think that's one of the main reasons why we've been compared to Sonata
Arctica and other Finnish bands.

MetalKings.com:
You took part in Sweden Rock Festival 2002 and that was a big step in
promotion of the band. Were there any interesting offers after that? Did
you meet some "idols of childhood" back stage? How are these old metal
monsters treat young metal warriors?

Axenstar:
Yes! It was great. Sweden Rock Festival is for me, and the rest of the
guys, the highlight of the summer. I've been there the last 4 years, as
audience, and it's always a really fun experience. But this time we got
to play live and it was awesome. The biggest show for us so far with a
couple of thousands in the audience and perfect weather. Just great. But
we actually didn't meet any "idols of childhood" backstage. We just hung
out with some of the smaller bands on the festival, the bigger bands had
a special part of the backstage to themselves. A little bit sad, but maybe
next time…

MetalKings.com:
Are you going to change radically anything in the sound and concept of
the next album?

Axenstar:
Nothing radically. Maybe just try some new stuff here and there, experiment
and try to be progressive. Simply to evolve. But it will definitely still
sound as Axenstar and the power metal that we play. We just have to try
to make an even better and even more interesting album than "Far From
Heaven".

MetalKings.com:
And the last question. What are you impressions on the Europe reunion
and what's the reaction in Sweden on the news?

Axenstar:
I think it's great news! Europe was an excellent band when they existed
and if they are still as good who knows what the future may hold for them.
As for the reaction in Sweden it's not really a big deal. I mean all the
metalheads are pleased I guess, but people in general don't care that
much. Metal still have a long way to go before it's something that common
people can relate to.

MetalKings.com:
And now your final words to the metalheads in Russia.

Axenstar:
Be sure to check out our album "Far From Heaven", I think it's an album
that will please almost any metalhead. And also visit our website www.axenstar.com
for all the latest news and updates. Hope to see you on tour in Russia
in the near future. Cheers!